Wright begins by explaining his approach to the issue of Eastern mysticism and Buddhism specifically; instead of explaining Buddhism for it's religious merit, whatever that might be, Wright advocates that we can still analyze the physical consequences of a Buddhist lifestyle, because that is scientifically testable.
He begins his scientific journey by discussing the secular, academic value of Buddhism as a philosophy. He states that meditation and mindfulness have now been scientifically proven to help humans, and that it seems from the evidence that mindfulness and meditation practices can even reduce political tribalism (which is what it is called when political parties begin thinking in terms of "us" and "them").
But then there is the problem of reincarnation. Many Buddhists believe in a reincarnation cycle, which means that each consciousness passes through animal lives in a karmic circle. Obviously that isn't scientifically verifiable, so Wright says, the reader ignore those obviously religious parts of the philosophy, like reincarnation.
He argues that evolutionary biology and evolutionary psychology each defend the truth value of Buddhism's claims about transcendental meditation as a response to human suffering. He says that the modularity of the mind corresponds to the ego-death of Buddhist enlightenment.
